Colder than your freezer

Britain experienced temperatures of below -22.1C as the country suffered the coldest night of the winter so far.

The mercury sank to -22.1C

in Altnaharra, in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands with bitterly cold temperatures everywhere else on another day of widespread weather disruption.

Although it has reached record levels yet when the coldest temperature of -27.2 C was recorded also in Altnaharra in 1995.

Temperatures were almost as low as the South Pole today where it was -22.9C at the southernmost part of the globe.

John Hutchinson, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, said: “Through today we have sunny spells throughout Scotland with snow showers in the east, particularly the south east. It’s just going to stay very cold. Temperatures will recover a bit but will remain below zero across Scotland. In some parts of the Highlands temperatures will stay below

-5C all day.

“In Glasgow and Edinburgh the temperatures will stay below zero peaking around -1C and -2C but they will drop back later on in the day.

“Tonight looks like being another extremely cold one with temperatures in the Highlands reaching as far as -20C and there’s a risk of snow coming into the far north.”

Freezing temperatures brought misery for a city centre cinema yesterday.

Hundreds of gallons of water flooded a Glasgow street after a pipe burst inside one of the city’s cinemas.

As water cascaded down the side of the Cineworld building on Renfrew Street and onto the pavement, the surrounding areas were under several inches of water within minutes.

The road was closed to pedestrians and surrounding buildings were evacuated after the burst, as leaked water on

the pavement began to freeze.

The incident happened around midday yesterday at the busy junction of Renfrew Street and Renfield Street.

A spokesman for Strathclyde Fire Brigade, who were in attendance of the incident, said that “several floors” of the cinema had suffered from water damage.

There are fears that the cost of damage could run into thousands of pounds as Strathclyde Fire Brigade’s Major Incident Unit tried to salvage some of the cinema by covering equipment in huge water-proof covers.

The spokesman added: “At the moment, we think the water is coming from a burst pipe connected to the air conditioning system within the building.

“Our main aim is to remove the water as quickly as possible and ensure the safety of the public.”

As well as the cinema, nearby pubs Highlight and Walkabout were also evacuated.

Dozens of film-goers were turned away from the building by a team of Cineworld workers, who explained the building would be closed “for the forseeable future” and that they would be happy to refund all booked tickets when the cinema was operating again.

The firm behind Cineworld could not confirm when the Glasgow branch would be open again.

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said: “Officers have been dispersed to the scene of the leak in a traffic and pedestrian ­management role.

“The pavement of Renfrew Street has been closed for pedestrian safety as, with the current weather conditions, there is the obvious risk of the leaked water freezing and causing hazardous conditions.”

Meanwhile, a search is continuing in Falkirk for a man who went missing on Tuesday.

Andrew Ainsworth, 56, left his home address in Brightons around 8am to walk to Polmont Railway Station for work and never arrived.

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